Slim Shady CBS

I don't watch Katie Couric. I prefer straight-up news most of the time, so I've always avoided the national news chat shows, whether on the broadcaster networks, or CNN, or the Fox News Channel. And of course, no Imus simulcast on MSNBC. I'd rather clean my contact lenses with Tilex before viewing that program.

The idea that people like Katie Couric, or Brian Williams, and the like get paid millions of dollars to essentially read off a teleprompter (and be what the Brits call a "newsreader") is entirely ridiculous to me. I suppose that those who are able to invest a combination of authority, sincerity, and empathy in their delivery are the most successful. I never cared for Peter Jennings, or Walter Cronkite, or even Tom Brokaw, but one can't argue that they were successful for decades because the public thought they had gravitas. Time (and the ratings) will tell if Katie Couric is able to do the same.

But I don't think CBS publicists were doing her any favors when they submitted a Photoshopped picture of of a slimmer Couric to a magazine. Didn't they learn anything from the "60 Minutes II" story which was based on fake documents about the President's National Guard service? That little debacle spelled the end for a few people's jobs, including Dan Rather's. Only, it appears now, CBS is the party that is falsifying things!

Top 885 Artists-Number 9-W.A. Mozart

A list of the great artists of all time should not be restricted to those from a specific genre, nation, or even century. That's why I had to include the great man who was born 250 years ago in Salzburg: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.


Of course, Mozart is one of the better-known composers. The first movement of "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" is featured in TV commercials a lot. The play & movie Amadeus, although inaccurate in some respects about his life, and supposed rivalry with Antonio Salieri, led to greater popular interest in his music. If nothing else, at least some people came away with the realization that musicians of that period were just as wild as any rocker or rapper of our time. Then there's Falco's "Rock Me Adadeus", a big hit back in the 80s, or did you forget about that?

I can't possibly devote enought space here to discuss his body of work. He was an amazing composer in symphony, solo concerto, opera, and chamber music. He wrote dances and serenades as well as a lot of religious works, including masses. Some of my favorites over the years have been "The Magic Flute", "The Abduction of the Seraglio", and "Cosi fan tutte". But I always come back to "Jenamy", his Piano Concerto No. 9 (K.271). I first experienced it in a performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra last year. This is rightfully considered one of his first true great works, written when he was 21. After the opening orchestral fanfare, the piano jumps right in, and with passion. This early entrance was unusual for its time. And also unexpected was that in the final movement rondo, Mozart briefly slows down the fast pace with a minuet section. It's a tribute to the father (a dancer) whose daughter inspired Mozart to write this very piece. Absolutely charming!

Top 885 Artists-Number 10-Gamble & Huff

It's time for me to get the ball rolling by revealing the names of the first musical masters I will be submitting in WXPN's 885 All Time Greatest Artists vote. I hope to profile my nine remaining choices in the next weeks, before the deadline. We shall see. Don't wait up!

One of my goals with this list was to ensure that Philadelphia had proper consideration, if not outright representation. After making a list of Philadelphia-area music figures, I immediately thought of two men whose body of work over the years qualifies them for the Number 10 spot on my list of the Top Artists: Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff.

Beginning in 1963, this partnership and friendship has had a huge impact on popular American R&B music over the last 35+ years. They have 200 gold and platinum records to their name. They have written, or co-written, 3,000 songs, including such masterpieces as "Love Train", "If You Don't Know Me by Now", "For The Love Of Money", "I'll Always Love My Mama", "You'll Never Find (Another Love Like Mine)", and dozens more. As producers, they have worked with a fine lineup of artists, including the Stylistics, MFSB, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, McFadden & Whitehead, Patti LaBelle, Billy Paul, and Lou Rawls. They stand in the elite company of the Beatles and Frank Sinatra as winners of the Grammy Trustees Award.

They developed and shepherded the development of "The Philadelphia Sound", a distinctive style of soul and R&B that mixed danceable grooves with horn and string sections, and terrific vocal harmonies. As a kid growing up in the Philadelphia area in the early and mid-70s, I remember hearing their music everywhere, from "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" to "Betcha By Golly Wow", catchy music that made you smile and uplifted the spirit. McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" was the unofficial anthem of the Phillies 1980 World Championship team. Of course, I remembered every song in their musical tribute, Me & Mrs. Jones, when it played at the Prince Music Theatre a few years ago.

But the power of their music did not end at the radio or record player speaker. With their founding of Philadelphia International Records in 1971, Gamble & Huff demonstrated a commitment to black ownership and control, which they felt was important in providing opportunities for success for the community. To this day, both men are still heavily involved in the community and work to strengthen black families and their support systems; Gamble's Universal Companies operates a job training center, a charter school, and also renovates housing. And they contributed the official theme song for the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

But really, it's all just a continuation of their spirit from back in the day, a time when (as Nikki Giovanni put it in her poem "I Love Music: when gamble and huff ruled"):

the right thing to do to creatively express while knowing who you and your people are

For all of this, and a lot more, they are to commended.

Check out:
Gamble & Huff's official website
Sony Records website for The Philly Sound CD collection

Worlds In Upheaval, Or, One Planet Out

In the immortal words of Tony Bruno, it's an outrage.

A moment of science, er ... silence, please. The planet Pluto is no more.



Thank you.

Long live the dwarf planet Pluto.

A few hundred of the world's astronomers, convening in Prague at the International Astronomical Union's meeting, voted to strip Pluto of the honor it has held since its discovery in 1930 by Claude Tombaugh. Pluto's status has been a bone of contention for the past few decades, as discoveries of other large objects orbiting the Sun, and refined measurements of its size, have led to a new understanding of the Solar System's incredible complexity.

Last week, there was a proposal that would have brought the Solar System's total to 12, by classifying the asteroid Ceres, Pluto's satellite Charon, and the distant 2003 UB313 (a.k.a. "Xena") as planets. But that was rejected, apparently after outraging a large contingent of astronomers. Other various nomenclatures and lineups were proposed, but today, the IAU decided to classify objects as: planets (the classic 8, since 1846 anyway), dwarf planets (Pluto, and likely Xena, Ceres, and many others as well), and Small Solar System Bodies (comets, asteroids, Anna Sharapova, etc.).

That's too bad. I'm gonna miss the little feller, although I understand some of the reasoning behind the new definition.

But, Pluto is still an important world. It's at the inner edge of a totally unknown part of the Solar System, and it's never been explored up close. I'm going to check out the findings of the New Horizons spacecraft when it passes by Pluto & Charon in July 2015. And by then, maybe today's decision will have been overturned.

Mugshots-Best Coffee In Philly?

For coffee addicts, there are many great choices in Philadelphia: Old City Coffee, Chestnut Hill Coffee, Joe Coffee, to name just a few. In the last few years, Mugshots, in the Fairmount section (across the street from the Eastern State Penitentary, hence the name), has been racking up various "Best Of" awards.

Owned by Angie Vendetti and Jill Fink, Mugshots boasts a comfortable atmosphere (it's also wi-fi friendly), healthy vegan options, and Equal Exchange coffee that is delicious.

Mugshots is located at 2100 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia/Phone: 267-514-7145

Update: A Bad New Jersey Driver

The special prosecutor has issued a report in the case of the New Jersey Attorney General whose boyfriend apparently received special treatment following a traffic stop a few weeks ago.

According to the story, Richard Williams recommended that the three police officers in the case receive suspensions, but no charges for the AG. However, he did find that she had violated two sections of the state's ethics code. Now it's time for Corzine to do the right thing and can her.

UPDATE to this update (9:55 p.m. EST): NJ Attorney General Zulima Farber resigned a few hours ago. 'bout time!

My original blog about this is here

Top 885 Artists: Philly-Only Edition

As a Philadelphia area native, I think it's important that the city and the region are well-represented in the upcoming voting and countdown for the Top 885 Artists on WXPN. So, this past weekend, I started making a list of "big name" people who were born or raised in the Delaware Valley. It would take too much effort to list them all in columns, so instead, I'll just put them in alphabetical order. It's a remarkable group of people, spanning decades of the 20th & 21st centuries and many genres, including pop, rock, R&B, jazz, blues, and more.

So let's give it up for:

Marian Anderson, The A's, Frankie Avalon, Bahamadia (Antonia Reed), Donald Bailey, Peal Bailey, Samuel Barber, Len Barry, Toni Basil, Blue Magic, Boyz II Men, Michael Brecker, King Britt, Clifford Brown, Roy Bryant, Solomon Burke, Uri Caine, Stanley Clarke, John Coltrane, Little Joe Cook, Linda Creed, Jim Croce, Danny & The Juniors, James Darren, The Dead Milkmen, Joey DeFrancesco, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Alix Dobkin, Bill Doggett, Duane Eubanks, Kevin Eubanks, Eve, Fabian, Lola Falana, Lizz Fields, Gamble & Huff (Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff), Melody Gardot, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Buddy Greco, Vivian Green, Hall & Oates, Rufus Harley, Robert Hazard, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Billie Holiday, the Hooters, Phyllis Hyman, the Intruders, Philly Jo Jones, Kitty Kallen, Grace Kelly, Khia, The Kinleys, Patti LaBelle, Mario Lanza, Amos Lee, Richard Lester, G. Love, Jayne Mansfield, Pat Martino, McFadden & Whitehead (Gene McFadden & John Whitehead), Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, Gerry Mulligan, Musiq, Peter Nero, The O'Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Vincent Persichetti, Pink (Alecia Moore), Trudy Pitts, Odeon Pope, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Leon Redbone, The Reds, Paul Robeson, The Roots, Phil Roy, Ursula Rucker, Todd Rundgren, Schooly D, Jill Scott, Cindy Scott, Shirley Scott, Bree Sharp, Bunny Sigler, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Will Smith, The Stylistics, Sun Ra, Tammi Terrell, McCoy Tyner, Ben Vaughn, Charlie Ventura, Joe Venuti, Grover Washington, and, Ethel Waters.

Whew!

So, who did I forget? Slo-Mo, and Audible may have to go on that list. They're probably big enough names.

FYI, because Steady B and Beanie Siegel have had some serious run-ins with the law, I'd rather not list them. And Broomall native Danny Bonaduce ... uh, no, sorry. The Bacon Brothers? Hmmmm ... lemme get back to y'all on that one.

Will any of the above make it to my final top 10 (or 20)? Stay tuned to this space ...

The USA: Another Day Deeper In Debt

On the outside of a building in Times Square in New York City, there's a National Debt Clock which has been running for a few decades now, its total spiralling upward as the federal government continues to spend more money than it takes in. It's disturbing that future generations will be saddled with it, and our future economic growth is at the mercy of countries holding that debt.

In an interview, the U.S. Comptroller General, David Walker says that big changes will have to happen to avoid financial calamity. He says that, generally speaking, tax cuts really don't generate much more income thatn keeping rates stable. He faults Congress for underestimating future costs of entitlement programs, which would be illegal if done in the private sector. His

But according to U.S. Representative Jim Cooper from Tennessee, a Democrat no less, we are in far more dire straits than we know. If standard accounting practices, the ones used by good corporations, that is, are employed, the true financial picture of the federal government (and each taxpayer) emerges. It just ain't pretty, it's actually quite scary.

Interview with U.S. Comptroller General David Walker
Story about the true federal debt

That Stormy AATM Graphic

After the stormy Saturday at the All About The Music Festival, I used Polaroid's PhotoMAX Pro to modify the promotional flyer for the show and posted it on the XPN Bulletin Boards. And of course, I blogged about the weekend as well, and I also posted the new graphic here. So, I was quite humbled when I opened my e-mail the other day and saw that the XPN staff had used used the graphic I had posted on the boards in the weekly newsletter. In addition to giving his account of the stormy day and the triumph over adversity, Robert Drake invited subscribers to post their own recollections on the boards (which a lot of people did).

Thanks, you guys, for using it and for the mention as well!

Here's how it looked:

XPN's Next Countdown: 885 All Time Greatest Artists

WXPN is at it again: another Fall countdown is coming. Two years ago, to mark the move to the new building, the station's listeners voted for the Top 885 Songs of All Time, which were played back over the course of three weeks. The winner was "Thunder Road". Last year, the vote was on the Top 885 Albums of All Time, and the winner was Abbey Road. This time, it's the Top 885 Artists, and I think it's going to be very interesting.

With the two previous countdowns, it was inevitable that there would be large numbers of votes for various songs and records by the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, etc. Certain artists are sure to garner large numbers of votes, and will finish well here also, but there is bound to be much more diversity after the first 50 on the final list.

I am going to base my selections on those artists that I think have made an impact on the world, even if it's just my world. The names I've already started tossing around in my head span various genres, generations, even countries. And to correct for the natural bias in favor of the Beatles, Springsteen, et al., I'm going to exclude them from my top 20. That still leaves a lot of names.

And, now, to open Excel and get my list going ...